Cloud Atlas Quote

Hello! I’ve been meaning to post this quote since I used it about two weeks ago in a class. But I just started with a new group of students, so I decided to use the quote again. It’s by David Mitchell, the author of Cloud Atlas. The book version is one of my favorite books, and the movie version is one of my favorite movies.

Here’s the quote:

“My life amounts to nothing more than one drop in a limitless ocean.
Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?”

That’s a “deep” quote. What do you think it means?

First of all, let’s look at a few vocabulary words:

to amount to (something) – This is a difficult concept to define. Basically, it indicates if something is valuable or significant. In this case, the author is saying that his life is as important as a drop of water in an ocean.

a drop – As a noun, this is a single “unit” of water.

limitless – this means without limits; in other words, infinite, or without end.

multitude – very many

So now that we have those words defined, what do you think the point or the message of the quote is?

When we talked about it in class, my students and I think that the first sentence is saying that individual people are not really significant. However, the second sentence contradicts that idea. It indicates that even if individuals often seem powerless, every group is made up of many individuals.

I think it’s an interesting quote. Do you have any other interpretations or thoughts about it?

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out the book (or movie) Cloud Atlas. Have a good day!

Sitzman

Hey! I’m Ryan Sitzman, the person in charge of Sitzman ABC. If you want to know more about me, you can check out my profile on Google or go to my personal site, RyanSitzman.com. You can also click on any of the redundant little boxes to the left and it should take you to my profiles for all kinds of social networks. Thanks!

post your comment

Welcome! Bienvenidos! Willkommen! Etc.!

Support Sitzman ABC!

If you want to support the site, you can shop at Amazon through this link.
It doesn’t cost you anything extra, and Amazon gives a small kickback to this site. You can also help out by using the links to Amazon products mentioned in posts or advertisements. Thanks!

Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

Check Out Wonderopolis!

Recent Posts

Hi! This is your homework assignment for this course. Don’t forget that you chose this assignment instead of a quiz, so it will count for 10% of your final grade. So please take it seriously. This will be due by.

Subscribe to Sitzman ABC by Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.